1. Field of the Invention
This invention is generally directed to portable dispensers for selectively dispensing sheet-like articles and particularly to a portable business or calling card dispenser which is of a size to be carried in a person's pocket and which includes a housing having a slideable cover by way of which cards may be inserted therein. The case of the dispenser includes generally continuous upper and lower planar surfaces which may be utilized to display various advertising or identification indicia. The ejector mechanism for the dispenser is uniquely designed to cooperate with the internal portion of the case so that the dimension of the case is just slightly larger than the dimension of the cards carried therein. The cards are positively biased toward the ejector in a vertical array by way of a generally continuous plate having a plurality of integrally formed spring-like portions that are generally equally or uniformly oriented along the undersurface thereof. The ejector mechanism includes portions which extend through a side wall of the housing in order to allow the ejector to be selectively operated and is resiliently returned to a seated position within the housing after a card has been urged from the case.
2. History of the Related Art
Heretofore, there have been many inventive efforts directed to providing dispensers for sheet-like materials or articles including cards, tickets, chewing gum, razor blades and the like. Most of these dispensers have been designed to be portable and carried in a person's pocket and include a housing in which the articles to be dispensed are housed in stacked relationship. Most of the prior art dispensers further include an ejector which is slideably carried by a portion of the case or housing and which acts to urge a single article from the housing by being manipulated toward one end thereof.
Many such prior art dispensers have not proven to be reliable or effective for continuously dispensing a single article at a time from the housing or case in which the articles are stored. In other such portable dispensers, the size of the housings or cases are necessarily enlarged in order to provide operative clearance for the ejection mechanisms incorporated therewith. In addition, prior art portable dispensers of the type for dispensing small articles have generally not been designed to simultaneously function as a means of identification or as an advertising display case.
Many prior art small portable article dispensers include an enclosed housing having upper and lower and side surfaces which substantially enclose the articles to be dispensed. The ejector mechanism is mounted within the housing and includes one end portion which engages an end of the upper article in a stack of articles in such a manner that the ejector will urge the article outwardly through an opening in the case when operated by an appropriate push button or lever which extends outwardly of the case. In order to insure that the articles contained within the various cases are continuously or sequentially presented to the ejector mechanism, use is traditionally made of a separate spring member which is mounted in the housing and which engages the lower article in a stack of articles and which is utilized to force the stack of articles toward the ejector.
Many portable prior art dispensers include an operating mechanism which extends through the upper surface of the case or housing and which is reciprocally movable with respect thereto. When being transported, it is possible for the operating mechanism to be accidentally moved forwardly or shifted thereby discharging or partially discharging an article from the case as the case is being carried or being placed into or removed from a person's pocket. Such premature ejection of an article not only is undesirable but creates problems with having to reinsert the article for future dispensing or will result in an article, such as a flexible card, being damaged.
In prior art portable pocket dispensers which are designed so that the operating mechanism extends from the upper surface thereof, the operating mechanisms prevent the use of the upper surface for displaying advertising or identification which could otherwise be associated with the dispenser housing or case. Some examples of such dispensers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,503,144 to Warwick, 1,697,366 to Opfergelt, 2,152,174 to Brunetti, 2,591,855 to Nicholson, 2,973,882 to Jeffus, 3,308,989 to Alltop et al. and 3,393,831 to Stewart.
In an effort to overcome the accidental discharge of small articles from portable article dispensers, some prior art dispensers have been provided with return springs which will operatively retain the ejector control mechanism in a relatively fixed position within the dispenser case or housing. Movement of the ejector mechanism is then only possible if a sufficient force is provided to move the mechanism against the tension of the spring. In this manner, such ejectors will be retained in a non-dispensing position when being transported or carried. An example of such a resiliently biased dispensing mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,803,378 to Gundling.
As previously mentioned, many prior art portable article dispensers generally have been designed to be of a large enough size to allow substantial clearance from the injector mechanism relative to a stack of articles contained within the dispenser case or housing thereby permitting the ejector mechanisms to be aligned with the rear of the uppermost article to be dispensed. Unfortunately, the need for clearance has required that most prior art dispensers be manufactured of a size which is significantly greater than the article to be dispensed thereby making the dispensers more difficult to handle and expensive to manufacture.
Other prior art portable dispensers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 909,110 to O'Neil, 1,244,338 to Johnson and 3,131,806 to Tait et al.